Broken Past, Bloody Future
by Fallcourt
Summary: After the failed wedding, Ranma leaves the Tendos only to be dragged into a darker life... Ranma-Hellsing Plz R
1. Prologue Before the Fall

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Ranma ½ . They are the sole property of Rumiko Takahasi. Niether do I own the rights to Hellsing. Those characters are the property of Kohta Hirano. All characters used within are used without permission.

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Prologue:  
  
She had been watching the young man for months. She had seen the innumerable battles, both within and without. She had followed him as he sought to rescue his fiancé, and used his chi to drive the Demigod Saffron back into his infant stage. Somehow, through it all, he had remained pure, innocent, naive. And then there was the wedding, if it could be called such. His final chance at peace in this place, snuffed like a candle with the coming of dawn. Yes, he was imperfect, but even the finest steel needs smelting to burn out the impurities. She tired of her eternal existence. It was time to take this young man, and forge a successor, sire a childe, her ONLY childe.  
  
All around him, the Dojo turned chapel remained in shambles. Splinters of wood from the walls, knocked out by fist, spatula, and bonbori, littered the floor, as did the broken cask that had held his hope, his cure, the nanichuan. Ranma had believed at least Uuchan would be happy for him. She WAS after all, his childhood friend. Apparently it wasn't enough. All of his friends had the same damned mentality. 'My way or the DIE way.' If Shampoo couldn't have him, she wanted him and the rest of the fiancé brigade dead to sooth her 'honor.' Kodachi's insanity spoke for itself. Ranma shuddered. Just thinking about that laugh made him cringe. Then of course there was Moose, who refused to acknowledge that Shampoo did not want to be with him, and that Ranma did NOT want Shampoo. Add to that his virtual blindness and he was a menace to himself and everyone around him. Next was good ol' Bacon Boy, destroyer of countless walls, streets, lampposts and sundry other objects in his quest to lay the misery of his life squarely on Ranma's shoulders. And the list just kept going. Top it off with the fact that his father was another major cause of misery and it was amazing that he hadn't snapped already, Kami-sama only knew he was close. Especially after today. He'd staked his hopes on today, on this wedding. Now, those dreams lay in ruins, scattered across the floor and trampled underfoot, like so much sand. Somehow the cake had survived the chaos, and sat nearby, untouched, uneaten, and inviting the ever hungry young man who had been denied entrance into the Tendo home until the Dojo was repaired and the cost recuperated, which was likely never. Glancing quickly about, he saw no-one to chide him for being hungry, especially since he'd been too nervous to eat this morning. Quickly taking up the cake knife, he moved to the table abd began searching for the best place to cut what was likely to be his only meal for quite some time. "Rrraaaaannnnmmaaaaa!" The shrill cry from the dojo entrance brought his head up guiltily as the fuming Akane stomped in wearing her dogi and cracking her knuckles. Shit, can today GET any worse? First I'm too queasy to eat breakfast, lunch gets drestroyed by the wrecking crew, and now Akane seems dead set on denying me any sustenance at all.   
"Kami help me Ranma, if you touch that cake I'll lock you in a cell with Happosai. You don't DESERVE that cake." Yep, today has just gotten worse. Well, if she WANTS the damn cake, well...   
"Ya' know what Akane?" quipped Ranma as he carefully removed the two figures from the top of the cake and tossed the bride to her "If this cake is that fucking important to you, SOO important you care more about it than me, you can fucking HAVE the damned thing. HERE!!!" And with speed born of rage never before seen in the young man, the cake was lifted from the table and hurled across the training hall, squarely striking the stunned Akane, knocking her off her feet, and covering her in angel food and white frosting. "I'm leaving, and if I ever see any of you again, you'll regret it. You can all rot in hell for all I care. GOODBYE!" And with that the young man stormed from the dojo, glowing with a faint red aura, and leaving burnt, smoking footprints in the grass and on the ground as he made for the gate.  
  
"He is ready..."  
  
As Ranma stalked down the street, his senses slowly began to draw in the night, and tingle of danger. Not the kind he was used to, but new, and it sent a cold shiver down his spine. He'd fought off a Demigod and this still scared him. It was then he heard the footsteps, paced, calm, and echoing on what shouldn't be an empty street, and yet was. Even as he stood and watched, one by one the streetlights flickered and died, bringing the darkness ever closer, until only the one above him remained on, a pool of light in a sea of darkness. Then he saw her, wrapped in black, beautiful beyond all imagining, and yet the very sight of her set all of his instincts jangling to run. But like a deer in the headlights of an eighteen wheeler, he stood paralyzed, unable to avoid the doom he somehow knew was coming ever closer.  
  
"Are you ready Ranma?" SHE asked  
  
"Who, what are you?" queried the now tremulous Ranma.  
  
"I am much like you Ranma. I am tired of my current existence, and seek to leave it in favor of another. You may call me Pandora, and I am Nosferatu, or, if you prefer, a Vampire, or Cathayan. Perhaps a bit of both. Now, are you ready to die?"  
  
"Die?" And then Ranma was engulfed in pain, however briefly, which was followed by the most exquisite pleasure imaginable. No victory, no mastery of a technique could ever compare to the sheer ecstasy he felt as he lay against the lamp post, Pandora at his neck. He shivered again, not in fear this time, but with a cold that penetrated to his very soul.  
  
"I'm cold."  
  
"You're dying." With this, Pandora took a finger nail and punched a small hole in her wrist, "Now sip, and move beyond all your wildest dreams..."  
  
It was like liquid fire pouring down Ranma's throat, in fact it sort of reminded him of the time he'd accidentally gotten sake instead of water, but this was so much worse, as it burned down into his stomach. And then, it all went dark... 


	2. Chapter 1 Risen

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Ranma ½ . They are the sole property of Rumiko Takahasi. Neither do I own the rights to Hellsing. Those characters are the property of Kohta Hirano. All characters used within are used without permission.

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Chapter 1 - Risen  
  
He was still cold, still hungry, but it was different somehow. Ranma was laying on his back, in what felt like a box of some sort. Well, it had felt almost like a bed at first, until he'd tried to move. He had six, perhaps eight inches of clearance above him and then he hit a padded surface. He had less that that to either side of him. If he wasn't so damn hungry he probably could have gone back to sleep. /rrrumble/ Well it seemed his gut was determined to make his mind up for him again.  
  
Opening his eyes, he immediately realized there was either little or no light in here. When his eyes didn't adjust after several minutes, he slowly began to feed a small amount of ki into a small ball, to light the area. It was then that he realized where he was. He was in a coffin. With his free hand he pushed against the lid. There wasn't even a hint of movement. Panic began to fill him. I'm alive. They've BURIED me ALIVE. He began to scream for help, but somehow, he knew no one could hear him.  
  
As his fear smothered his confidence, the tiny ball of light, wavered, and died, leaving him feeling even more alone and scared in the blackness of this place. With strength born of terror, he began to beat on the lid, until he heard the satisfying crunch of wood splintering beneath his fist. It was then he realized his mistake, if he was buried, there had to be dirt above him. In desperation, Ranma clawed at the lid, and the wet earth beyond, leaving his hands bloody and dirty. Inch by inch, foot by foot, he dug, scraped and pushed his way to the surface.  
  
Had someone been looking from the surface, they would have seen the freshly dug grave, begin to sink in on itself, and then bulge until a hand burst forth from the wet soil of the Tendo yard. Clutching desperately, the hand would begin to pull loose dirt further into the hole until a dirty head and upper body forced it's way from the ground into the raining night. Coughing and spitting mud the dirt encrusted figure pulls itself from the ground and curls into a ball as the storm slowly washes, most of the mud from the prone shape. A flash of lightening reveals a very MALE Ranma clutching his stomach, and grimacing in pain, as he seems to sob and cry to himself.  
  
It is then that he begins to vomit, not once or twice but wave upon wave of nausea, as though his body is trying evict his stomach and guts. As the trembling pulses of his abdomen still, a memory flashes into his mind of a dark street, lit only by a streetlamp above his head, and a woman of surreal beauty, with a hypnotic voice. What had she asked him, something about... dying? He'd only just considered defending himself when she'd struck. Faster than his mind could process, she'd covered the forty or so meters between them and then, pain, pain so intense it blinded and weakened him, and pleasure, pleasure so complete, so totally fulfilling, he didn't think even sex could compare. Everything after that was fuzzy or black, at least until he woke up in that coffin.  
  
"I see you've awakened Ranma." The voice was vaguely familiar, female, and seemed to echo within itself. "I see I was not wrong about you. You would not have dug your way back into the world of the living if you did not have great strength of will. That you still have your mind is proof that you were a virgin when I kissed you."  
  
Kissed? What was she talking about? If only I didn't hurt so bad  
maybe I could roll over and see who in heck this is. And why am I  
suddenly so afraid?   
  
"You KNOW who I am Ranma, I am your new mother, your mistress, Pandora. Now rise up my child."  
  
In agony and rage, Ranma stood and turned to face the voice, recognizing instantly the voice from and face as belonging to the woman from before. "What did you do to me?" choked out Ranma around his now dry heaves.  
  
"I gave you the gifts of power, immortality, and freedom. The price was small, simply your life." Chided the woman before him standing dry in the rain. "If you doubt what I can teach you, come, strike me. If you can touch me, I will leave you to your eternity alone, for you will have no need of me. If not, you are subject to my will, until such time as I CHOOSE to release you. Are you, Amicable?"  
  
"I'm not just gonna' touch you, I'm going to destroy you for whatever  
it is you did to me."  
  
"Good, your will and fighting spirit are undiminished. Come for me  
Child."  
  
Ranma began to swing, to strike, used his ki to increase speed power, and quell his stomach. But though Pandora never seemed to so much as move, his blows either never touched her or seemed to pass through her. Frantically he redoubled his efforts. I BEAT Saffron, I BEAT the Orochi, why can't I even seem to get close to her?  
  
"Are you quite done warming up young one?"  
  
"Warming," pant "Up?" pant  
  
"Fine," sighed Pandora, "let us end this."  
  
Again, in a movement far faster than Ranma had ever imagined possible, he was struck. Not with a bite to the neck, but an open palm strike to his chest that hurled him across the yard and through the outer wall, into the street. As the blow landed he felt more than hear the sickening crunch or ribs breaking. But how could she have hit him, she hadn't looked like she'd so much as moved since the fight began, not even to strike him.  
  
Stepping through the new hole in the wall, Pandora slowly moved to the limp form of Ranma. She reached down and carelessly lifted Ranma from the ground by his shirt.  
  
"Come. The she bitch and those who had the gall to call themselves parents will have heard us, and will shortly find your grave disturbed and defaced. No doubt they will surmise that some part of you still lives and come seeking you. We have much to do, and learn, and little time to prepare."  
  
Between the bruise forming on his chest, the broken ribs, and his stomach again trying to move out of his body, the agony was simply too much for Ranma, and he fainted as the tall woman vanished with him into the darkness of the night.  
  
In our next chapter, Ranma learns what it means to be undead, and Kuno makes the mistake of rubbing the newest of the undead wrong...

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Authors Notes: In brief, no I have not borrowed from the Ricean vampires, though the name is consistent with one of the ancients there. In the Hellsing saga, each of the great immortals takes a name indicative of their personality. Alucard is Dracula turned from his old ways and so his name was reversed. Incognito remained hidden and unknown for centuries on end until he felt he could raise the demon god Set. And now we have Pandora. As for what she did, well, you'll just have to find out later. 


	3. Chapter 2 Dark Destiny

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Ranma ½ . They are the sole property of Rumiko Takahasi. Neither do I own the rights to Hellsing. Those characters are the property of Kohta Hirano. All characters used within are used without permission.

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Chapter 2  
  
Pandora had been right. Mere hours had passed and already the wrecking crew was tearing Nerima apart to find him. Akane was looking to kill Ranma. She had managed to convince herself that this was all some perverted plot of his to be with his OTHER fiancés, and not have to marry HER. Never mind that the coroner had pronounced him DOA and he'd lain there cold and stiff in the morgue for two days while the coroner's office had tried to figure out WHAT happened to his blood. The other girls felt that Akane had somehow hurt Ranma so badly that he'd seemed dead, and in a pique of anger she'd buried him alive. Genma and Soun had spent the first two hours drinking and celebrating before leaving, heavily intoxicated to search for the wayward son. Nadoka had begun by murmuring about how manly her son was that he could even overcome death, and proceeded to begin planning the next attempt at a wedding. Nabiki of course, wasted no time in selling this information to Ranma's rivals, and soon most of the Nerima district looked much like the Tendo Training Hall had merely days before.  
  
But Ranma was nowhere to be found.  
  
...somewhere in Kyoto...  
  
"Ok, so explain this to me again. WHY can't I draw on my ki?"  
  
Sigh "Simply stated child, you cannot access ki that is not there. Only the LIVING generate ki. YOU are dead. The energy you expended during our little scuffle the other night was the last of your internal reserve. This is why when it was gone, you were so tired and so easy to hurt. I didn't hit you any harder than the she bitch used to, it's simply that you didn't have ki reinforcing your body anymore. Now, this does not mean you cannot ever use ki again. Living blood carries a reserve of it, so each time you feed from a living being, you will add some ki to your reserve.  
  
"Now, what do you think you know of our kind, vampires?"  
  
"Not much, just what I saw in a couple of movies I snuck into a while back. Crosses and garlic, stakes and running water. Oh yeah, and mirrors."  
  
Shaking her head, "I see I have much to teach you. First, almost everything you think you know is wrong, or at the least, seriously out of date. First and foremost, crosses, or any holy symbol for that matter, are of absolutely no effect unless the wielder is possessed of an incredible faith. In this day, it is an extreme rarity to come across one such. The only thing repulsive about garlic is the way it affects someone's breath. A stake will only paralyze, not kill, and even then it must be of ash wood. I don't know WHO came up with the running water idea, but if I'd found them before they died, I would have killed them. As for mirrors, look for yourself."  
  
With this Pandora rises and walks to a nearby vanity where there is a mirror covered by a white sheet. With a smooth and gentle tug, she pulls the coving free to reveal Ranma to himself in the mirror. He stands and approaches, almost not believing what it is he sees. He is perhaps a touch paler than once he was, and when he opens his mouth to speak, he notices that his upper canines are extremely pronounced. And then he sees them. His eyes are wrong, no longer the steel blue they have been his entire life, but a deep crimson red.  
  
thinking aloud "What the hell?"  
  
"The eyes are the mark of our kind. There are perhaps five of us that are truly ancient. Are you familiar with the name Dracula? He is real, or, was anyway. I lost contact with him some hundred years ago."  
  
"I have another question. Why didn't I change into my cursed form in the rain?"  
  
"Curses reside in the blood. No matter how you may have contracted it, once your blood was gone, the curse dissipated. Dying helped to flush it from your system as well, thereby preventing any lingering side affects. I am afraid that there was no other way to be rid of it. Curses do not replace one another. They mount and combine, and you may have noticed in Pansuto Taro. Had you actually used the nanichuan, your curse would only have compounded, and left your alternate form as a hermaphrodite, or a person with BOTH genders." We hear Ranma's jaw snap shut as his question is answered before it can be asked. "Now, you have probably been wondering why I chose you Ranma. The answer is simple. I need an heir. You are the second and last vampire I will ever create. Once I made the mistake of thinking a mortal man could love me. When he asked to be like me, I thought nothing of it. I was young then, barely released from my own sire's tutelage, and did not grasp the consequence of my actions. He has been called many things since that time. To be honest, I'm no longer sure if the Judeo-Christian image of evil was molded from him, or if he directly modeled himself after it. Yes, the man I loved, was Lucifer. He had a laugh that could melt the coldest of hearts, and a temper that could vaporize uranium. I know he must be stopped, but despite his nature, I still love him. This is why I turn to you. As a mortal, you defeated Saffron, a demigod. Now, you must face a greater threat. Evil incarnate walks the earth, and prepares to wipe all mankind from it's face. I could not bring myself to face him when he betrayed me, I know I cannot now. Now, is there any whom you would fight and die for? Or perhaps a more important question, is there any you would LIVE for?"...

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I have to see her. I need to know if she's someone I'd live to protect. I mean, I DID kill for her...   
  
"The vengeance of Heaven is Swift and sure, I Tatewaki Kuno, The Blue Thunder of Furinkan High, demand to know where you, the foul sorcerer Saotome have secreted my fiery haired, pigtailed goddess. Oh fiend without measure, how dare you damage one of my loves and hide the other from me."  
  
Shit. Just what I DON'T need right now, the true blunder in all his stupidity. "Piss off Kuno. The Red Head is gone for good this time. Now go away or I'm going to have to hurt you..."  
  
"You wretched beast. What have you done to my beauteous pig tailed girl? I shall beat the knowledge from your lowborn flesh. I Strike...  
  
"Strike-Strike-Strike-Strike-Strike-Strike-Strike-Strike-Strike- Strike-Strike-Strike-Strike-Strike-Strike-Strike-Strike-Stri..." With a sudden start, Kuno realizes he's thrusting empty hands at a very angry looking Ranma, who just happened to be holding his boken.  
  
"Did it never occur to you that a technique rarely works on me more than once, and I've seen you use that one HOW MANY TIMES? As for your pigtailed girl, she died the day you helped to ruin my wedding. You will NEVER see her again. In fact... I don't think you'll be seeing much of ANYTHING ever again..." Ranma then bends the boken in his hands until it breaks in two with a snap, and with speed he'd only displayed rarely before, shoved the splintered ends into Kuno's disbelieving eyes.  
  
Screaming, Kuno reached for the broken halves and pulled them from his ruined sockets, feeling the blood pour down his face even as flickers of pain danced like light in the darkness that remained of his eyes. With a sudden shock he felt his legs kicked out from under him and with a jerk and twist, his shoulder was dislocated.  
  
"What's the matter Kuno? You're not afraid of the dark, are you?"  
  
"You Bast-... Mph" He barely having time to open his mouth and start his sentence before Ranma's heel crashed down into his teeth, removing six and cracking his jaw in two places. Kuno promptly fainted from the pain.  
  
"Why don't I leave ya one last thing to remember me by." Ranma then dug out Kuno's ceremonial tanto, and carved the word buffoon into his forehead, in memory of their first encounter. "Now everyone will know what you are as soon as they see you coming, asshole."  
  
Now, let's see if I can find Akane, Nabiki, and Kasumi.  
  
Next Chapter: It's time to settle old accounts...

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Authors note: My thanks to everyone who's read and reviewed. I've got some plans and ideas for the story, but am open to suggestions and ideas for what might happen along the way. I hope I clarified some of the questions that were brought up. I try and update about once a week, but sometimes it takes a touch longer since I'm in summer school at the local College. And before anyone asks, Pandora is OLDER than Alucard. 


End file.
